Dr. Leah Lambert is a clinical nurse scientist who holds a dual role as the Executive Director and Senior Scientist of the Nursing and Allied Health Research and Knowledge Translation department at BC Cancer, with a cross appointment as a Clinical Assistant Professor at the UBC School of Nursing.
Her research program is aligned with the BC Cancer and Ministry of Health’s 10-Year Cancer Action Plan and focuses on innovation, knowledge mobilization, and measurable impact. It addresses three core priorities:
- Improving equitable access to cancer care
- Integrating cancer research and care
- Stabilizing and strengthening the cancer care workforce
To address these priorities, Dr. Lambert leads a series of interconnected projects structured around three foundational pillars that promote equity, eliminate barriers to care, and inform workforce policy and strategy to support implementation of sustainable, system-level transformation:
- Priority A: Advance Cancer-Related Health Equity
Embedding patient and caregiver voices—particularly those facing health and social inequities—to inform evidence-based solutions. This work drives integrated, cross-sector approaches that align cancer, primary, and community care to improve coordination, address structural barriers, and strengthen continuity across the care continuum. - Priority B: Model of Care Innovation—Uptake of Equity-Oriented Care
Designing, implementing, and evaluating models of care that operationalize equity as a core principle. - Priority C: Cancer Workforce Policy and Strategy
Generate applied evidence to inform workforce planning, leadership, and policy that drive health system transformation. This work addresses critical challenges in training, recruitment, retention, and system design to ensure the cancer care workforce can meet the evolving needs of people in BC and support timely, high-quality care delivery.
Her program of research takes an equity-first approach to examining the needs of cancer patients and caregivers, with a focus on expanding multidisciplinary approaches to problem solving within the care system. She investigates how cancer care practices, policies, and structures contribute to inequities, and identifies strategies to enhance equity, improve patient outcomes, and stabilize the workforce. Her long-term vision is to advance more equitable, responsive, and person-centered cancer services by generating evidence-based strategies for addressing differences at the point of care and through system-level approaches to close the health equity gap.
Dr. Lambert brings a unique combination of expertise in nursing, research, and business. Her clinical experience spans direct patient care and work navigating Canadian drug policy for high-cost biologic medications. Prior to nursing, she spent a decade in the finance sector and holds a diploma in business administration. This interdisciplinary background enables her to critically analyze the interplay between key system drivers—such as resource utilization, system efficiencies, and quality of care—and their effects on patient outcomes and health system performance. As a clinical nurse scientist, she has first-hand experience into how health system organizations function, how decisions are made, what challenges they face, and how research and knowledge mobilization can contribute to addressing complex system-level issues.
Dr. Lambert completed her PhD at the University of British Columbia School of Nursing, where she was supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Strategic Training in Health Research (CIHR-STIHR) Psychosocial Oncology Research Training Fellowship and a four-year UBC Doctoral Fellowship, in addition to receiving several distinction awards, including two UBC Faculty of Applied Science Graduate Awards for outstanding scholarship. She was the first embedded researcher at BC Cancer to hold a CIHR and Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR) Health System Impact Postdoctoral Fellowship. Following her postdoctoral training, she was awarded a MSHRBC–BC Cancer Foundation 5-Year Scholar Award and the UBC School of Nursing Recent Alumni Award. In 2024, she received the Nurses and Nurse Practitioners of British Columbia (NNPBC) Nursing Award of Excellence in Advancing Nursing Knowledge and Research and the PHSA+ Award for Indigenous Specific Anti-Racism & Cultural Safety.
Clinical Assistant Professor, UBC School of Nursing